The little boat moved steadily across the East Blue.
Chug—chug—chug…
The crude propeller churned the water, producing a rhythmic mechanical noise that echoed across the calm sea.
Mox had personally modified the contraption.
He had gathered several pieces of discarded metal and assembled them into a crude fan-shaped propeller.
Then, with the help of his Trash-Trash Fruit, he continuously manipulated the blades.
The wind pushed against the rear of the boat.
The resulting force drove the vessel forward.
And just like that, a bizarre new invention had appeared in the East Blue—
“wind-powered boat.”
Mox sprawled across the deck, basking in the warm sunlight with a coconut beside him and a straw sticking out of it.
Whenever his sharp eyes spotted plastic bottles or pieces of driftwood floating on the sea, he casually activated his decomposition ability.
The numbers in his Material Storage slowly increased.
At least he wasn’t wasting his time.
The only problem was that using his ability to drive the propeller was mentally exhausting.
After a while, his temples would start throbbing.
Fortunately, his Observation Haki was gradually improving without him even noticing.
Its sensing range had expanded by another half-meter.
It was a small consolation, at least.
Most of what occupied his mind was the food waiting for him at the Baratie.
Before transmigrating, he’d watched Luffy and the others devour food at the floating restaurant and had practically drooled at the screen.
He already loved experimenting with food.
Now that he was in the world of One Piece, how could he possibly miss the cooking of “Black Leg” Sanji?
The more he thought about it, the lighter his mood became, and even the rhythm of his rowing grew more energetic.
Unfortunately, only half a day into the voyage, a dark shape appeared on the horizon.
A huge ship flying a skull-and-crossbones flag with a club motif came charging through the waves.
It was nearly thirty times the size of Mox’s little fishing boat.
Standing at the bow was a burly man with a face full of coarse features and a messy mohawk.
A thick wooden club hung at his waist.
Behind him stood a group of equally ragged-looking lackeys.
One had crossed eyes.
Another was openly picking his nose.
The most conspicuous was a balding man with only a few strands of hair remaining, painstakingly combed from side to side.
He looked like a peacock proudly displaying its tail—
if the peacock had gone bald.
“Boss, look!
There’s a tender-looking little girl ahead!”
“Bet there’s some valuable treasure aboard her ship!”
The balding captain narrowed his triangular eyes.
“Hey, little girl ahead!
Hand over your treasure!”
“Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rough!”
“I’m Club Johnny, with a bounty of 3,000,000 Berries!”
Mox’s heart sank.
Three million Berries wasn’t an insignificant bounty in the East Blue.
Even a ruthless pirate like Arlong only had a bounty of twenty million.
These guys looked ridiculous, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were harmless.
But after taking a closer look, Mox almost burst out laughing.
Their eyes were unfocused.
Their posture was terrible.
Everything about them screamed:
These guys aren’t exactly geniuses.
Mox had virtually no real combat experience.
He wasn’t necessarily afraid of fighting them head-on.
After all, he was immune to ordinary physical attacks.
But what if they simply destroyed his boat?
And he certainly couldn’t outrun their much faster ship.
Mox took a deep breath.
His mind raced.
Then an idea suddenly came to him.
A bluff.
“Hey!”
“Do you know who I am?”
He suddenly stood up.
He deliberately raised his voice, making it arrogant and disdainful.
“I’m a Logia Devil Fruit user who once fought Dracule Mihawk, the World’s Strongest Swordsman, for three hundred rounds without losing!”
“They call me…”
“The Devil Eater!”
He glanced at the pirates’ rusty knives and broken wooden clubs and sneered.
“And you think those pieces of junk are enough to attack me?”
“Do you really think the Devil Eater is someone you can bully?”
Club Johnny froze.
Then he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.
“Logia?”
“You’re full of shit, little girl!”
“Mihawk comes to the East Blue?”
“If he can make it all the way to the East Blue, I’ll eat shit!”
“I’m a pirate with a three-million-Berry bounty!”
“You think I’m scared of some brat?!”
“Hmph.”
Mox raised an eyebrow and deliberately drew out his words.
“With genetics this ‘excellent,’ why would I bother lying to you?”
That remark made Johnny feel inexplicably pleased.
He stroked the few pathetic strands of hair on his head.
“Good eye!”
“Since you know what’s good for you, hand over your money and I’ll let you live.”
“Otherwise…”
Before he could finish, Mox suddenly activated his ability.
Poof!
He leapt onto the pirate ship.
His body expanded like a balloon.
In an instant, he transformed into a two-person-tall blue slime.
Two dark, hollow “eyes” appeared within the translucent gelatinous body.
A huge mouth stretched open beneath them, dripping with blue slime.
Where the slime landed on the deck—
Sizzle!
It corroded several small holes into the wood.
At the same time, Mox secretly manipulated several rotten planks near the railing.
The pieces of wood seemed to be grabbed by an invisible mouth.
Whoosh!
They flew straight into the slime’s mouth and instantly dissolved into nothingness.
“OPEN FIRE!”
One of the lackeys panicked and fired his gun.
The bullets passed straight through Mox’s gelatinous body.
They didn’t leave so much as a mark.
Instead, they were decomposed into copper elements.
The system notification sounded at exactly the right moment.
[Absorbed “Discarded Bullets.” Obtained Copper Element.
Energy +0.01.]
“What… what kind of monster is that?!”
One cross-eyed pirate’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
“The bullets don’t work!”
“It’s a Logia!”
“He was telling the truth!”
“That slime is corrosive!”
“I don’t want to be melted into a puddle!”
Fear spread through the pirates like weeds.
Mox forced a sinister “Hehehe…” laugh from his throat.
His voice was as rough as sandpaper scraping against metal.
“My slime doesn’t just melt wood.”
“It melts bones just as easily…”
“Want to find out?”
He deliberately allowed more slime to drip onto the deck.
At the same time, he made several pieces of scrap wood vanish beside the slime.
The pirates nearly lost their minds.
Someone finally shouted:
“RUN!”
Splash!
The first pirate jumped into the sea.
Once someone took the lead, the others didn’t even care about their captain anymore.
Even Club Johnny didn’t dare throw out another threat.
He grabbed a barrel of alcohol and jumped overboard with the rest.
A whole group of pirates began paddling frantically through the water, desperately trying to get away.
Mox stared at the now-empty pirate ship and breathed a long sigh of relief.
His slime body whooshed as it shrank.
When he returned to human form, his back was drenched in sweat.
“That scared the hell out of me.”
“Good thing those guys were both cowards and idiots.”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, climbed aboard the pirate ship, and began rummaging through it.
He soon found a heavy treasure chest.
Inside were 300,000 Berries, along with some gold coins, copper rings, and other miscellaneous valuables.
“This is what I call hitting the jackpot!”
As he carried the treasure back to his own boat, a system notification suddenly exploded inside his head.
[An abandoned pirate ship has been detected.
It meets the criteria for Trash Recycling.
Recycle?]
“Recycle!”
Mox didn’t hesitate.
The ship was far too large for him to operate alone.
Keeping it would only take up space.
The moment he gave the command, Mox stood aboard his own little boat.
The entire pirate ship seemed to be caught in an invisible net.
Within the range of his Observation Haki, it transformed into countless points of light.
Whoosh!
They surged into his body.
A warm current instantly flowed through his limbs and organs.
He felt his strength increase almost out of nowhere.
Even the fatigue caused by operating the propeller earlier disappeared by more than half.
[Recycling complete!]
[First Pirate Ship Recycled.
Rewards: Physical Strength +10.
Energy +1,000.]
[Obtained Martial Art:Eight Extremities Fist — Proficient.]
[Unlocked System Storage Item: “Trash Can.”]
Mox froze.
He tried recalling the techniques of Eight Extremities Fist.
The principles and movements of this powerful, explosive martial art were engraved clearly in his mind, as though he had trained in it for eight or ten years.
He clenched his fists.
He could feel strength surging through his muscles.
A grin spread across his face.
He immediately poured all the newly acquired Energy into his Physical Strength.
“I’m at 25 Physical Strength now!”
“With Eight Extremities Fist on top of that…”
“I’m finally capable of protecting myself!”
He was so happy that he started humming.
His singing was horribly off-key.
He repeated the same line over and over:
“Today is a good day…”
“Ah… a very good day…”
His attention fell upon the newly unlocked “Trash Can.”
With a thought, a translucent spatial entrance appeared before him.
The space inside was roughly ten meters on each side.
[Notice: “Trash Can” space can store non-living objects.]
“…It’s a system storage space.”
“Why call it a ‘Trash Can’?”
Mox rolled his eyes.
Still, he hurriedly stuffed the treasure into a torn sack and tossed it into the space.
Sure enough—
It worked.
“Perfect!”
“From now on, I can store food and supplies in there.”
“Though I’ll need clean bags if I’m going to store food…”
This system really holds a grudge.
Having dealt with the pirates and gained such a huge reward, Mox was in an excellent mood.
Perhaps because his Physical Strength had increased, operating the propeller no longer felt as sluggish.
The blades spun rapidly.
The boat’s speed was more than twice what he’d expected.
By the time he realized what was happening, a familiar silhouette had already appeared on the distant sea.
Wasn’t that the unmistakable fish-head shape of the Baratie?
“How did I get here in the middle of the night?”
Mox stared blankly at the completely dark restaurant.
His boat was tiny.
He also transformed into Slime Form and curled up inside the cabin.
The people on watch never even noticed the unexpected visitor.
“Forget it.”
“There’s nothing I can do if I can’t get inside.”
He yawned, moored his boat alongside the Baratie, then found a relatively soft piece of canvas inside the cabin and curled up on it.
The sea breeze drifted past.
Faint scents of butter and freshly baked bread floated over from the direction of the restaurant.
His stomach immediately growled.
“Tomorrow morning…”
“I’ll eat breakfast made by Sanji.”
Mox smacked his lips.
With the sound of waves gently striking the hull, he soon drifted into a deep sleep.
His dreams were filled with sizzling steaks, golden and crispy fried meat, and steaming bowls of braised beef noodles.
Apparently, his obsession with good food was something he cared about even more than his adventure in the pirate world.